Musings on Patrol Rifle School

[gigag04]

I just got back from a 2 day Carbine course for LE through my department. It was hot, but lot's of fun. We did a wide variety of drills and progressively faster surgical shooting which was good. I learned some things that I thought I would share and I kind of just wanted to tell some stories of drills we did.

1. Regardless of how amped up and fast your heart rate is you must control your breathing to make a surgical shot at distance.

[brag]I was only able to make a stressed head shot at +/- 100 yds (w/o magnification) at a subject that was "hiding" behind to other silhoutes that were standing in front of him because I [lesson] slowed down and got my breathing right. There was about a 6" gap between the silhoutes where the BG's head was exposed. We had to sprint to this station and then jump down into a ditch and use a culvert for support. I was sweating like crazy, all in my eyes and everything so I gave myself two whole breaths to slow down and on the third I held it and took my shot. Then you sprint and shoot through a few other stations ending with a transition to pistol and a 3yd body armor drill. I finished first in time with over a minute + lead over 2nd place. It doesn't slow you down that much and makes your precision lethal.


2. When prone, it is OK to cant your body at 45 degrees to the rifle so that your support hand can reach further down do the muzzle. This will result in less muzzle sway and smaller groups. I was always taught military style where you dress inline with your rifle. I have short arms and this slanting worked great for me.

3. Weight of the weapon doesn't matter when you're in a firefight. I brought a heavy rifle (LMT CQB Piston) to the course. The only time I was totally smoked was when we did about 40 rounds of tactical and empty mag changes. Back and forth, on target, two shots, tactical reload, two shots, tactical reload...on until empty...reload...two shots.. The weight wore on me then but everyone else complained too. When we were doing timed and simulated stressed combat shooting the rifle felt like part of my arm...any weight was not noticeable.

4. Pay attention to your offset (difference in height of muzzle to irons/optic) when shooting OVER cover. If you pop up JUST enough to get a sight picture you will shoot the cover (didn't do it...no story, but something I didn't think about). Instead I found it easier to rotate the weapon a quarter turn to the outside. This is also faster and keeps you lower IMO.

5. When shooting from under a car there are no rules. Switch hands, switch feet, shoot upside down, put the butt where you can, shoulder, bicep, mid air...whatever it takes to get rounds on target. I like laying on my side facing the target and tucking my head into the ground and shooting almost upside down.

6. Wear lots of sunblock and put the knee pads into the 5.11 pants that have kneed pad pouches. This one is free, but my knees are jacked. Learn from me. Also if you ever go to a course I found that wearing sliding shorts for baseball were great as well. We did a timed relay where you shoot 5 rounds from cover using only your right arm (injury drill) and then 5 with your left. This was from the 25 yd line however your 10 rds were back at the 50...so you sprint grab a round, sprint back, load the mag (1 hand and arm), insert the mag, charge the weapon, on target off safe and fire. On safe and repeat. I was able to shave off time by sliding down into the cover and starting to load the mag on the way down. Even besides this drill it was nice have padding and support for all the prone shooting.

7. Shooting mats are not overated in Texas Summer.

8. One point slings are the absolute best for me. So fast to transition - very useful when going from under the car to over the car to shooting on the move in the open. I'm running the Magpul MS2 to an ASAP plate and I can't say enough good about this system. The 2nd attachment point was good for AARs after a drill or something but during scenarios I was running it solely as a one point. In patrol use, you don't need to sling your weapon when it's not needed. If I have it out, I am clearing a building or on a perimeter or active shooter...etc. I should have weapon held and ready in all of those circumstances. I don't need to lazily let it hang ever when it's time for work...if I don't need anymore I can go rack it back in the car.

I would've taken some pics but we were so hot that we had all kinds of bandanas and towels soaked in water and stuffed in our hats/over our necks/around our faces that it would've looked pretty silly. I'm still very much building rifle skills so don't take these thoughts as how it should be...these are just a few things that I walked away with. I think most if not all are applicable to the home defense/truck gun carbine users as well.

[karl]

Good stuff! Thanks for the tips. Also good to hear some feedback on the Magpul sling and attachment, that's the one I was leaning towards.

[Purplehood]

2. When prone, it is OK to cant your body at 45 degrees to the rifle so that your support hand can reach further down do the muzzle. This will result in less muzzle sway and smaller groups. I was always taught military style where you dress inline with your rifle. I have short arms and this slanting worked great for me.

The vast majority of Marine Corps shooting coaches came across as accepting anything that worked for you as long as you didn't violate safety practices and had nice groups. I could always manage to get into very tight and unusual positions while sitting, kneeling and prone (but I was skinny then too). I am not sure what Army instructors thought, since when they found out I had been a Marine (Expert - my brag) they generally left me alone unless I asked for help.

[texjames]

Good stuff thanks for sharing. The first time i ever shoot from behind a barricade i shot my cover as you discussed above,
not thnking..."attention to your offset (difference in height of muzzle to irons/optic) when shooting OVER cover"...
turning the weapon 45 degree's on some postions helped me a lot.
Sound like fun except for the heat....whew!

[ELB]

Interesting, thanks for sharing this.

Couple memories resurrected...

...
2. When prone, it is OK to cant your body at 45 degrees to the rifle so that your support hand can reach further down do the muzzle. This will result in less muzzle sway and smaller groups. I was always taught military style where you dress inline with your rifle. I have short arms and this slanting worked great for me....

I believe the reason for being inline with the rifle, at least what I was taught, was to present as small a target for incoming rounds as possible. Something to think about.

...
4. Pay attention to your offset (difference in height of muzzle to irons/optic) when shooting OVER cover. If you pop up JUST enough to get a sight picture you will shoot the cover (didn't do it...no story, but something I didn't think about). Instead I found it easier to rotate the weapon a quarter turn to the outside. This is also faster and keeps you lower IMO.
...

In the 90s one of my lieutenants had an LAPD friend who gave him a tour of their training facility, which was pretty elaborate -- it projected images of bad guys shooting back for the trainee to interact with, using live ammo. He said one of the scenarios involved shooting over a concrete wall -- and the nearside lip of the wall had chunks of concrete missing, for just the reason you stated.

I have to admit, I am bemused by the "patrol rifle" appellation. Sometime back some pundit noticed that when the Chicago PD finally started issuing "patrol" (i.e. "GOOD") rifles to patrol officers, it was to counter all those naughty "assault" (i.e. "BAD") rifles out there...

[bdickens]

I always canted my body while in the prone while I was in the Army.

I also always qualified "expert."

[karder]

Great information. Thanks for the post.

[.45mac.40]

Firing from tha' prone, while receiving fire ... you will not lay your self out, horizonally, you'll get behind your rifle or move, AND QUICKLY !
Mac

[srothstein]

4. Pay attention to your offset (difference in height of muzzle to irons/optic) when shooting OVER cover. If you pop up JUST enough to get a sight picture you will shoot the cover (didn't do it...no story, but something I didn't think about). Instead I found it easier to rotate the weapon a quarter turn to the outside. This is also faster and keeps you lower IMO.

Also remember this offset when you are shooting at close targets. Home defense and patrol are using rifles at distances as short as ten yards. The bullet will still be on the muzzle line and not the sight line at those ranges. This may make an important difference if the target is behind some type of cover.

This is more critical for police than citizens. Police must be bale to tell why they hit where they hit as well as justifying the shooting itself. But for home or self defense, it could be important if there is only a partial target instead of a full body shot.

[Mando'a]

Thank you for the great tips.

I was finally able to zero my M4 at 25m the other day.

Shoots sweet! Hoping to get to the range this week for more practice.